Celtic Daily Light
Extracts from Ray Simpson's Book
Readings for Friday 24th January 2020
More sayings from the desert
An honest answer is a sign of true friendship.
Proverbs 24:26
If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad.
Abba Pastor
When someone wants to return evil for evil, they are able to hurt their neighbour’s conscience even by a single nod.
Abba Isaiah
As wax is melted before a fire, so is the soul enfeebled by praise, and loses the toughness of its virtues.
Amma Syncletica
Unless a person says in their heart, ‘I alone and God are in this world’ they shall not find quiet.
Abba Allois
Abba Arsenius was taking counsel with an old Egyptian man. Someone said to him "‘Abba Arsenius, how is it that you, such a great scholar of Latin and Greek, should take counsel from this countryman?’ Arsenius answered, ‘It is true I have acquired the learning of the Greeks and the Latins, as this world goes; but the alphabet of this countryman I have not yet been able to learn.’
We do not go in to the desert to escape people but to learn how to find them.
Thomas Merton
- Infinite One of the wise heart
- Saving One of the clear sight
- Knowing One of the hidden deeps
- May I learn from you as an eager pupil
- May I learn from life as a humble child
- May I learn from night, may I learn from day
- May I learn from soul friends, may I learn from the stillness.